Brickfilm

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A brickfilm is any film made using LEGO bricks, Mega Bloks bricks, or other similar plastic construction toys.

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In most cases, brickfilms are made using stop motion animation techniques, but other forms of film production are also used, such as computer-generated imagery, Macromedia Flash, or live action. Brickfilms also usually utilize the art of MOC (My Own Creation) development, giving each film a different feel depending on individual building styles.

For brickfilmers, the most common approach is to use the minifigure as an actor against a set or a backdrop made from bricks. While limited in their range of movement and expression, many brickfilmers still manage to get a wide variety of emotions from their minifig actors. Some films, such as Marc Beurteaux's "Robota" and David Pagano's "Little Guys!" are unique in that the characters featured are not minifigures but are in fact larger-scale models made out of bricks.

Many brickfilms are spoofs of scenes from famous movies or books, while others feature completely original stories. The majority of brickfilms tend to be comedies, perhaps due to the innate happiness of the smiley-faced LEGO minifigure. However, some brickfilms have managed to break out of the mold and successfully present dramatic tales.

Example of an amateur brickfilm.
Example of an amateur brickfilm.

To date, the oldest known example of a fan-made stop-motion is "The Magic Portal." It was made by Lindsay Fleay between 1985 and 1989 on a budget of $11,745. Shot on 16mm film, it is 16 minutes long and features a combination of 12 and 24 frames per second. [1]

LEGO Group's earliest known foray into stop-motion was "Sport LEGO", an official LEGO compilation. Produced by Vianco Studio in Budapest, this collection of 7 shorts has since been released under many different titles:

  • LEGO Sport Films (1987)
  • LEGO Stories (1989)[1]
  • LEGO Sport Champions" (1994, 2005[2])
  • "Sport News: The Olympic LEGO Games" (1996)[3]
  • "LEGO Action Fun" (1998)[4]

1987 also saw the premiere of "Edward and Friends," a series of 5-minute stop-motion shorts based on the LEGO Fabuland line of toys. The episodes may not have been true brickfilms -- the characters were stop-motion puppets made to resemble their LEGO counterparts -- but the series was another milestone in the LEGO Company's involvement in motion pictures.

In 1999, LEGO held the "LEGO Maniac's Coolest Home Video Contest," which encouraged LEGO fans to send in their own homemade brickfilms. The 3 winners and all of the finalists were announced in Spring of 2000, and were subsequently featured on a tape that was screened in LEGOLAND, CA for a time.

In the Fall of 2000, the brickfilming took off when the LEGO company released "LEGO Studios," a set containing bricks, backdrops, a book and a computer application for making stop-motion LEGO movies. Also included was a small USB web cam that had the traditional LEGO studs and tubes on it, making for easy integration into a LEGO movie setup. To coincide with this release, the LEGO company held a second brickfilming contest, and in the Spring of 2001, the LEGO Movie Making Awards took place at Planet Hollywood in New York City.

A third official LEGO contest, this time with a Star Wars theme, was announced in the May-June 2007 issue of LEGO Magazine. Very few details about the contest and how to enter were given. However, a recent press release confirms that the "LEGO Star Wars Movie Making Contest" will be held in the Summer of 2007. Recently, the details of the contest were revealed. There are three age categories: 12 and under, 13-17, and 18 and up. Entries will be limited to 3 minutes long and are being accepted until July 28, 2007. The rules state that entries can only contain sets from the 2007 Lego Star Wars line.[5][6]

Some of the most well-known brickfilms include

The following films were made by unknown animators and released to promote the LEGO Studios product:

A somewhat different approach to brickfilming was used by Michel Gondry in his video for The White Stripes' "Fell in Love with a Girl". This had no tridimensionality or figurines, instead using only flat surfaces of the LEGO bricks themselves, creating an illusion of motion in much the same way that the pixels of a TV screen or computer monitor function. To achieve this effect, live action video was processed by a computer program, which converted each video frame into LEGO building instructions. The animators then had to build and shoot each frame of the nearly 2 minute long video. LEGO.com article about the video

Brickfilms LLC hosts the web site http://www.brickfilms.com, devoted entirely to brickfilms. It has its own forum, chat room, and a directory where users can post links to their own brickfilms.

From time to time, Brickfilms holds a contest with the help of brickfest. Some past contests have included:

  1. ^ LEGO Stories Video Brickshelf.com. URL accessed on 25 May 2007.
  2. ^ FilmWest.com. Currently available on DVDor VHS. The DVD version is not just a straight digitization of the VHS, it was taken from a 3/4 inch U-Matic, which was taken from the original film master.
  3. ^ LEGO Stories video Brickfilms.com. URL accessed on.
  4. ^ Amazon.co.uk Product listing Amazon.co.uk. URL accessed on 25 May 2007.
  5. ^ LEGO Systems Unveils Programs to Celebrate 30 Years of Star Wars™ at Fan Celebration IV actionfigureinsider.com. URL accessed on 25 May 2007.
  6. ^ LSW Movie Making Contest Official Site . URL accessed on 15 July 2007.

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